


Baby angels, Awkward teens

by kiimigi



Category: Free!
Genre: Babysitting, De-Aged Makoto, M/M, babysitter! Sousuke, good thing they have a baby angel to keep them in check, haru is still the same, sousuke and haru don't get along, toddler! makoto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 12:37:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8286127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiimigi/pseuds/kiimigi
Summary: Sousuke wasn’t sure how a vacation would help his shoulder heal but when his therapist tells him to take some time off, he packs his single duffle bag full of clothes and jumps onto the first train to Iwatobi. During which he meets Makoto, a toddler he is roped into babysitting for a night and barely up to his hip, and suddenly everything changes and he finds himself strangely attached to this baby angel.
Little does he know Makoto already has a dark haired, blue eyed teen in his life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This story kinda follows the canon, in the sense that Sousuke’s shoulder is all messed up, Haru and Makoto are still good childhood friends (even if there is a big age gap between them) and Haru and Rin still have their rivalry. Sousuke and Haru have competed against each other one or two times but they don't really remember each other. Everything is pretty much the same except Makoto is now a toddler and everything that that implies. 
> 
> Makoto in this story is about the same age he when he first joins the Iwatobi Swim Club  
> And Sousuke, Haru and Rin are all their canon ages i.e. 17

Sousuke didn’t think this through.

Sousuke wasn’t sure how a vacation would help his shoulder heal but when his therapist tells him to take some time off, he packs his single duffle bag full of clothes and jumps onto the first train to Iwatobi.

"Oh, Yamasaki" a cheerful smile greets him as the door swims open. The woman, maybe in her mid-thirties, smiles and tucks a strand back behind her ear as she quickly beckons the teen into their home.

"You said to come at 3pm" Sousuke says slightly awkwardly as he slips off his shoes.

"No, you’re right on time. I’m sorry to drop this on you so suddenly but something came up at work and I would have called Haru but-" 

Haru? Sousuke wonders who that is.

“It’s okay, Tachibana-san. What do you need me to do?" 

Sousuke tries to slow the woman down, rushing around the living room collecting her stuff while trying to explain things to Sousuke.

 "I’ll be gone until about 8pm. I’ve left some food in the fridge so you can just heat that up." She gestured to the kitchen, which was only separated from the living room by a bar.

"Makoto could you come down here please?" she called suddenly but not unkindly, and almost instantly Sousuke could make out the faint pitter-patter of feet from the ceiling above him. A few moments later a small boy’s head pokes around the corner. He hesitates for a second when he sees Sousuke before dashing to his mother, his small hands clutching at his mother’s skirt, hiding his face against her leg. Mrs. Tachibana smiles, smoothing down her sons head before squatting down to his level.

"Makoto, this is Yamazaki Sousuke. He’s going to look after you until 8pm, okay" She says in what Sousuke can only call her mothering voice.

"Where’s Haru?" Sousuke could just make out the boy mumbling, as he nervously glances up at Sousuke.

"He’s still at school." Mrs. Tachibana continues to explain again in her mothering voice. Kind but firm.

"He’s scary." He hears the child mumble. Most people would be offended but all Sousuke could do was laugh. A low chuckle resounding from his deep in his throat, a small amused smile on his face as he looks down at the boy. Sousuke could'nt really blame the boy. If he was a kid of course he would be scared of a 6 foot, dark head stranger.

 "I know but he’s really nice plus he’s a friend of Rin"  the boy’s eyes going wide in recognition of his best friend's name, looking up at his mother  “okay, so say hi" Mrs Tachibana chuckles patting her son’s head, who’s looking up at Sousuke only slightly less frightened now.

"Hi" He manages to peep as he finally detached himself from his mother's leg. Taking this as permission to stand up, Mrs. Tachibana straightens up to reach only somewhere close to Sousuke's shoulder

"Sorry, he's just a little shy with strangers" She said, giving Makoto's head an affectionate pat.

 "Mm" Sousuke nods

 "Well, if anything happens just call, okay. You have my number, right?" She finally says as she picks up her purse, Sousuke following her to the door.

 "Yeah." Sousuke rubs the back of his neck. Mrs. Tachibana turns to give one last smile, her eyes crinkling as she does. Sousuke only sees trust in her eyes. "I have to go. Be good for Sousuke, okay. He’s in charge so listen to what he tells you to do."

The small boy nods, as he watches his mom go out the front door. "Bye mom" He waves one of his tiny hands as the door swings shut.

Sousuke could have cut the awkward that swamps over them with a butter knife.

Sousuke groans as he stares down at the little boy infront of him.

He clearly didn't think this through.

The boy was barely up to his hip and by the way he fiddled with his hands and stared at the ground unmoving he was clearly scared of him, and only now does Sousuke’s remember that he was not the best with kids. The last time he held a kid he had made him cry. Unintentionally, but still…

Groaning again, Sousuke drags himself to the couch, plopping down as he wonders if it’s too late to call Rin. Rin, that bastard, he knew Sousuke wasn’t good with kids but he still blurted out to Mrs Tachibana that he was free when she asked if any of them was available to babysit Makoto for the night.

Sousuke hears the light steps of feet again and he watches Makoto walk into the room, fiddling with his shirt hem as he moves to stand awkwardly across the coffee table.

Sousuke kind of shifts so he’s no longer resting against the back of the sofa instead he rests his arms on his tighs as he leans forward.

"Um, so what do you wanna do?"

 Makoto jumps at the sound of his low voice but instead of answering he stares at the floor nervously.

"You wanna eat?

 A quick shake of the head.

"Do you wanna watch some TV?"

A slight hesitation before another shake of the head, Makoto not daring to look at him. Sousuke groans for the third time tonight, and what he suspects won’t be the last. This is his first tine ever babysitting meaning he has absolutely no idea what to do. As long as he keeps the kid alive until 8 he’s fine, right? Its only 3pm Sousuke couldn’t force Makoto to go to sleep just to avoid him. So Souske quickly scans the room, desperate for any ideas. Suddenly an object catches his eye.

A small plastic bucket and shovel.

Sousuke smiles as his own fond childhood memories flash through his mind.

"Wanna go to the beach?" Sousuke saws slowly, testing his idea out. Immediately the small boy’s head lifts, eyes still worried but now Sousuke can see excitement building in them. Sousuke allows himself a small triumph smile.

"Now go pack your things and go change" Sousuke instructs Makoto in the kindest voice he has and without another word Makoto dashes off, wide smile on his face. Sousuke chuckles fondly at the boy's sudden enthusiasm as he gets up too. It takes some searching but Sousuke manages to pack a water bottle and some snacks for Makoto just in case.

Not 15 minutes later, the pair was sliding their shoes on. Sousuke offering to hold Makoto’s small bucket and spade as he clumsily tries to toe in his Velcro shoes. Remembering to lock up after them, Sousuke thinks he still remembers enough of Iwatobi to get them both down to the beach.

Sousuke freezes as he feels something wrap around his fingers.

Looking down he sees Makoto wrap his little fingers around his own, as they start down the stairs. But sensing Sousuke stopping Makoto stops too, looking up at his temporary guardian, he follows his gaze to their linked hands. His face turns bright red as he suddenly remembers that Sousuke isn’t his mom jerking his hand away, staring at his feet to avoid the big man’s stare.

"Um I’m sorry. But mom said I have to hold someone’s hand when I go down these stairs."

Makoto bites his lip nervous he stairs before him. He had never gone down the stone stairs by himself before.

Makoto flinches as he felt something strong wrap around his hand. Makoto blinks up at Sousuke, who just stares in front as if it was nothing. Makoto's smiles a little as they start down the stairs hand in hand.

They finally reach the beach, Makoto’s hand still securely in Sousuke’s, sand crunching under their shoes as Sousuke guides the boy to a quieter part of the beach.

Sousuke's smirks as he watches Makoto stare longingily out to the glistening waves but patiently waiting for Sousuke as he lays down their bags by the beach towel he had brought. Sousuke couldn’t help but imagine the picture of an obedient puppy waiting for permission.

"Hey, Makoto you can go play now but don’t wonder too far and don’t follow any strangers, okay?"

Smiling Sousuke plops down onto his towel as Makoto nods eagerly, his eyes lightening up as he takes off as fast as his short legs can take him.

But somewhat to Sousuke’s surprised Makoto doesn’t head to the water, instead he runs along the beach bending down so often in which Sousuke assumes he’s picking up shells or anything that catches his attention. The boy looks happy enough so Sousuke doesn’t question it too much as he tilts his head back closing his eyes. Breathing in deep, Sousuke finally let’s himself relax fully, rubbing his shoulder as he watches the waves crash onto the beach.

Makoto eventually toddles back with a handful of shells which he proudly lays out for Sousuke, explaining where he found them and what he liked about them when Sousuke lazily picks one of them up playing with in his hand.

“You gonna go for a swim now?" Sousuke asks as Makoto starts to pack his shells. Makoto’s hand stops midway of picking up a shell. But when he looks up, he is smiling as he shakes his head cheerfully.

"I think I’m going to build a sand castle first" he says as he leans over to grab his bucket running a few metres away, starting to shovel sand into his bucket. Sousuke sighs, lying down. Sousuke folds his arms under his head as a pillow as he stares at the clouds passing over him. He remembers when he and Rin were younger, they would always race to the beach, of course making into a competition, on who could get into the water faster, leaving cloths scattered on the sand as they dived into the salty waves. Splashing each other and racing each other until the sun set or their mothers called.

Somewhere off to the distance Sousuke could hear children’s laughter echoing those in his memories.

Sousuke lolls his head to the side to make sure Makoto was still alive but what he sees makes his heart throb. Makoto sat by his sandcastle by himself gently patting the sides as he decorated it with his shells, but he wasn’t looking down at his creation. No, he was looking out to the ocean, eyes full of want as he watches a group of kids laughing and squealing as they splashed about in the water.

 Sousuke frowns.

 "Hey, kid" Makoto’s head shot up at the sound of Sousuke’s voice, Sousuke gesturing for Makoto to come with a quick wave of his hand. Obediently, Makoto got up, dusting himself off before running to Sousuke’s side

“Yes Sousuke" Makoto pants as he reaches him. Sousuke nods over to the group of kids from earlier, Makoto getting the idea and following his gaze.

"Why don’t you go play with the other kids?"

Sousuke's frown only deepens as he swears he sees Makoto’s face pale before he quickly looks down at his feet, obviously avoiding his gaze.

"I don’t- I don’t really want to" Makoto mumbles as he kicks around some sand under his foot.

"Why?" Sousuke says a bit more sternly than he intends. Makoto bites his lip as he goes back to playing with the sand with his toes and for a second Sousuke doesn’t think he’s going to get an answer but then Makoto mumbles, almost too soft for Sousuke to hear.

“I don’t really like the water."

 Sousuke’s eyes go wide.

 "Why not?" Remembering to sound gentler this time.

 "It’s scary" Makoto sounds like when he first met him, nervous and scared, and Sousuke’s heart drops further when he thinks he sees tears pinprick the corners of the boy's green eyes. Sousuke slowly gets up, pushing of his one of his knees as he straightened up.

“Give me your hand" sliding one of Makoto’s small hands into his much larger ones. At first Makoto doesn’t resist but as they start to get closer and closer to the waves, Makoto finally gets the idea and Sousuke feels the hand enveloped by his own tighten and go sweaty as he small boy starts to resist. Knowing the boy had no hope of stopping him, Sousuke stops himself, kneeling down to be more eye level with Makoto.

 “Do you trust me Makoto?"

Makoto stares at him for a second to long before giving a small nod.

"Okay" Sousuke nods back “believe me there’s nothing to be afraid of" getting another hesitate nod from Makoto Sousuke stands up again as they’re start their walk to the waves lapping to golden beach. But this time Sousuke makes sure to speak in a calming voice, talking Makoto about Rin and their past summers at the beach trying his best to distract the boy.

And before he knew it they were about shin deep in the water. The cool water lazily licking at their skin. Makoto shivers once. In which Sousuke replies with a gentle squeeze to his hand.

"I’ve got you. Nice, isn’t it?"

Makoto gives a shaky nob. But the longer they stood there the more he saw Makoto relax. When Sousuke though he was calm enough, he looked down to the small child

“Wanna go further?"

There was another long pause as he looks down at Makoto, who held onto his hand as if it was a life line, before finally Makoto gives a quick shake of his head.

Not even hesitating or asking twice, Sousuke bends down to scoop Makoto into his arms, water dampening his shirt slightly. Walking back to their beach towel, Sousuke calls it a day and gathers there things.

Passing an ice-cream shop, Sousuke offered to buy them ice-cream as treat. Makoto was practically glowing. Sousuke getting a simple single scoop of vanilla ice-cream while Makoto got himself a blue Popsicle, which he said was his favourite. But as they start their way back to Makoto’s house it’s almost like a switch has been flipped. Makoto turning from the scared cautious boy that he had first met to a cheerful bubble of energy. Skipping slightly ahead as he tugs lightly on Sousuke hand, chattering nonstop. Sousuke tried to blame it on the sugar.

Sousuke must be a natural at this babysitting thing because it doesn’t take him more than 20 minutes to get Makoto cleaned up, dried and ready for lunch. Either that or Makoto is an angel. Sousuke quickly sets up Makoto with food, following what Mrs. Tachibana said, fishing around the fridge until he finds the blue lunch box labelled "for Makoto".

Sousuke laid out the sandwiches for Makoto before ducking into the shower himself to get rid of some of the sand still sticking to him.

 By the time he gets back, Makoto was just about finished eating, taking the last few bites of a tuna sandwich, leaving crumbs all over his mouth.

"Did you leave me any, kid?" Sousuke said as he strolled into the kitchen as nonchalantly as possible. The guilt stricken face that Makoto gives is enough to make Sousuke’s heart hurt. Instead he just smirks, ruffling the boy’s already messy hair "I’m just messing with ya kid, I already ate before I came."

"But you can still share come of my fishys if you like" Makoto said smiling again, pushing a packet full of salty fish-shaped crackers towards Sousuke.

"So what do you wanna do now?" Sousuke leans back into his chair as he grabs out a few crackers popping them in his mouth one by one.

"Can we go play in my room?" Makoto asks with wide eyes.

Sousuke gives a one shoulder shrug, getting up "Lead the way, kid" Sousuke swears Makoto’s smile is infectious as he finds himself smiling, following the beaming Makoto up to his room.

Makoto’s room was pretty nice in Sousuke's opinion. Comfortable looking bed in one corner, fluffy rug soft under Sousuke’s feet as he looks around the room.

"Sousuke! Sousuke!" The eager boy called patting the floor close to him where he’s gathering some supplies. Sousuke never realised playing with someone less than half his age could be so entertaining. They spent most of the day like that. Either Sousuke contributing his own not so great doodles to Makoto’s colouring book, playing building blocks and at one point Sousuke even let Makoto ride around on his back for a bit. Before his shoulder started to ache slightly reminding him that that's probably not the best idea. Sliding Makoto of his back, the boy quickly scrambled to his shelf, Sousuke watching his back as Makoto searched for something.

"Sousuke, catch" Makoto giggled tossing something in Sousuke direction.

Shit

Before he could stop himself Sousuke instinctively reaches out for whatever Makoto just tossed but the sudden movement of his bad shoulder sends pain shooting through his body. Sousuke bites back a swear as he grips his shoulder, riding out the pain. He’s vaguely aware of Makoto’s worried yelp and his small voice worrying over him and calling his name but his hearing is too clouded with sudden pain to make anything out clearly.

Gradually the pain subsides and Sousuke can think clearly again but it only takes a second to realise Makoto’s gone. His hearts starts racing, eyes darting around the room as his mind cycles through worst case scenrios. Just as Sousuke is about to fully panic, Makoto comes pattering back into the room holding a rag full of something too big for his hands. Without saying a word, Makoto walks over pressing whatever he has in wrapped in that towel gently to Sousuke’s bad shoulder. Sousuke only jumps a little as the cool fabric makes contact with his skin. Sighing in relief and relaxing into Makoto's pressure Sousuke smiles down at Makoto’s determined face.

"Thanks kid" Sousuke says taking the ice pack from Makoto’s hands, repositioning it to where it really hurt.

"Is Sousuke okay?" Makoto says worry laced in his words as he settles in front of Sousuke again, hands resting on his lap as he stares up at him with big eyes.

"Yeah I’m okay" Sousuke lies “it’s just my shoulder. Don't worry about it."

Sousuke expects Makoto to probe further like every other person he’s talked to before, digging on how he hurt his shoulder, why the hell he didn’t take care of himself and who the hell was stupid enough to wreck their bodies so bad just so they could swim with their friend.

But instead Makoto just gingerly presses a soft orca plush into Sousuke's hands, which Sousuke accept with a slightly awkward nod.

"Orca always makes me feel better when I’m feeling bad. But you need him more than me today."

Sousuke stares down at the plush in his hands then to Makoto and before he knows it he’s laughing. A deep happy laugh bubbling up from his chest.

"Thanks kid" Sousuke says ruffling Makoto’s head enthusiastic as he laughs and soon Makoto’s own high pitched giggles joins in.

Makoto in much more gentle after that. Not tossing him anything or doing anything he knows will put pressure on his shoulder. Instead they sit on his bed, Makoto leaning into his side (Sousuke keeping it respectable) as they tell stories and pat Makoto’s many stuffed toys. Sousuke clears his throat as a warm fuzzy feeling builds in his chest.

The scene was only broken when a distinct jingle of keys and the sound of someone opening the front door echoed through the house. Sousuke glanced at the clock hanging from Makoto’s wall. That’s not right. It’s way too early for Mrs. Tachibana to be back. It was hardly after 5pm after all and she said she’d only be back at 8pm.

Scooping Makoto up almost protectively, Makoto’s looks up at him with a confused expression but doesn’t say some anything otherwise as Sousuke pads cautiously down the stairs, muscles taught for anything.

"Haru!" Makoto suddenly squeals happily, wriggling in Sousuke’s arm till sousuke had to put him down to avoid dropping him. The second he was put down, Makoto is dashing to the person standing in the middle of the living room.

Sousuke hovers at the base of the staircase staring suspiously at the young man crouching down to meet Makoto.

The young man, from what Sousuke could see, was around the same age as him, had raven hair and blue eyes a few shade lighter than his own teal eyes. The similarities were absurd. The most significant difference was their size. Even standing from this distance Sousuke could tell that he was about a full head taller. Makoto smiled the brightest smile Sousuke had ever seen, the other young man patting hair as a small smile slipped onto his face. Sousuke couldn’t help but feel jealous at the attention Makoto was giving him.

But that small smile disappeared from the man’s face as he locks eyes with Sousuke. Frowning, he slowly rises to his feet never breaking eye contact with Sousuke, scowl deepening as he pushes Makoto behind his legs.

"Who are you?" the stranger gives him an icy glare, his voice equally cold. Refusing to back down to a man so much smaller than him, Sousuke pulls himself up to his full height as he steps out of the shadows. But he doesn’t stop walking then, he continues to take slow threatening steps until he’s in the man’s space, forcing him to take a step back.

"I could ask you the same thing."

Icy blue stares into icy blue, each too stubborn to back down as they size each other up, each judging if the other was a threat to Makoto. Sousuke smirks causing the other’s scowl to deepen. Sousuke knows he’s won. He’s practically a wall of muscles and by no means is Haru scrawny but Sousuke had height on him, stepping even closer causing Haru to tilt his head back just to maintain he’s stare.

But it’s Makoto that finally end the conflict. Makoto tugs on Haru's sleeve, Haru stubbornly doesn’t break his glare until Makoto’s insistent tugs are too much to ignore. Forcing Haru to squat down again

"Haru-chan, Sousuke’s my babysitter."

Sousuke lets out a single mocking laugh at the use if the smaller man’s nickname. That earns him another glare before Haru turns back to Makoto.

"Makoto you don’t have a babysitter. I always look after you."

"I know Haru-chan, but mama called. Sousuke may look scary but he’s really nice! He brought me to the beach and bought me ice-cream and then we played with orca" Makoto finishing with a little laugh as he looks up to Sousuke.

 Haru hesitates for a second.

"Do you want to stay here or come to my place? I can tell your mom for you."

Makoto pauses for a while thinking over something before he beams "Your place!"

Sousuke’s heart drops.

Wordlessly Haru stand but bends down again when Makoto raises his hands in a request. Balancing the boy with practiced ease on his hip, his icy glare softening slightly to just a cautious glare.

“Thank you but I’ll take care of Makoto from now."

"No problem" Sousuke’s mumbles resentfully, trying his best to hide his bitterness from Makoto but failing.

Brushing his way past the pair, Sousuke gathers his things quickly. Standing at the door, slipping on his shoes he could hear Makoto chatting happily with Haru.

 “Can we play video games again?"

"Sure" came that same infuriating monotonous voice.

 Just as he was about to slip out of the house, a voice sweet as spring stops him in his tracks.

"Bye Sousuke! See you later!" Sousuke half turns and forces a smile just for Makoto, who smiles back more eagerly. Sousuke flickers to Haru, scowls then leaves, closing the door a fraction to hard.

As he walks down the stone stairs he remembers to drop Mrs. Tachibana a message before burying his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunching. His hand felt a little bit colder than usual.

\---

“How was it?" Rin yells from the kitchen as Sousuke finally drags himself back to the apartment. A full day of babysitting a toddler and a hour train ride had gotten Sousuke bone tired and all he wanted was to collapse into his bed.

"Good" Sousuke mumbles as he drops his things at the door. Rin simply cocks an eyebrow up before smiling a knowing smile.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Did you meet Haru?”

“Yeah I did”

“Fun, isn’t he” Rin smirks, sarcasm dripping from his lips

“Yeah” Sousuke scowls at the memory

With a quick goodnight to Rin, Sousuke drops into his bed, only stopping to pull off his shirt and pants, leaving him in his boxers. Letting out a sigh, Sousuke nuzzles into his pillow face down, already starting to drift off. Images of a brown haired with twinkling spring green eyes dance behind his eye lids and Sousuke allows himself to smile as sleep finally takes him.

 Expect it doesn’t

Just seconds before he falls asleep the insistent buzzing emitting from this discarded jeans got Sousuke growling as he drags himself out of bed. It takes a bit of digging but he finally fishes out his phone not even bothering to check the caller ID as he presses his ear with a very grumpy "hello?"

"It’s Nanase"

Sousuke growls again as he rubs the bridge of his nose, still not fully awake

"How did you get my number?" Sousuke says not even bothering hiding his irritation.

"Mrs Tachibana gave it to me." Haru said in his monotonous voice

"Why are you calling me so late?" Sousuke groans as he sits up properly.

"I wanted to make sure Makoto was asleep first"

"It’s not like he can even listen to us" Sousuke says rolling his eyes. For a short while Haru says nothing, Sousuke having to strain to hear Haru’s muffled breathing.

"Listen, I’m really tired so if you got something to say, just say it." His irritation rising in his voice but not raising his voice loud enough for Rin to hear him from the other room.

Sousuke hears Haru take a single deep breath, as if composing himself "I don’t know who you are and I don’t care but if you ever plan to hurt Makoto in any way I swear I'll make you regret it"

Sousuke’s blood ran hot as soon as the words left Haru’s mouth, his knuckles turning white as he fisted his free hand next to him as the idea of someone hurting Makoto rushed through his head

"What you going to do huh?" Sousuke speaks slow and threatening and angry and mocking "Fight me? Cause the last time I checked I was a full head taller than you." Sousuke pauses talking in a breath trying to calm himself. He wasn’t sure what’s he’s trying to do but Haru’s not saying anything.

"But you can save your breath ‘cause I don’t plan on hurting Makoto."

There’s a long pause and Sousuke feels the same intensity that he felt when he was face to face with Haru

"Good. Just making it clear."

Sousuke opened his mouth to snap something back but before he could he hears the distinct click of Haru hanging up on him. Sousuke growls only barely stopping himself from hurling his phone against a wall, instead he collapses back onto his bed, flinging an arm over his eyes as he falls into a dreamless sleep.

\---

Sousuke is not sure how or why but Mrs Tachibana calls him back for at least 4 more nights babysitting. And each time Makoto’s smiling and laughing the entire way through. So he must be doing something right. Each time he goes back, he feels himself more and more attached to the boy. Attracted to his youthful happiness untainted by the world. It’s what Sousuke needs right now. A distraction.

Sousuke tucks his hands into his Samezuka team jersey as he strolls down the beach side shops. Recently he had gotten a sort of habit of going out for walks in his free afternoons, unable to swim and all. Sousuke glances at the waves rolling onto the nearby beach, smiling at the memories of Makoto collecting shells

 "Sousuke!”

Sousuke snaps back to reality as Makoto's cheerful voice shouts out of nowhere. Head jerking to see the boy a little distance in front of him, waving at Sousuke enthusiastically and Haru standing right behind him.

"What you doing here?” Haru says in that same monotonous voice Sousuke has learnt Haru speaks in as Sousuke closes the distance.

"What? A guy can’t go on a walk around here" Sousuke shoots back.

Makoto giggles as if they’re not about having a go at each other "Don't be silly Haru-chan. You were saying to go the other way so you didn’t have to talk to Sousuke" Haru glares irritately at Makoto as Sousuke’s raised an eyebrow, amused.

"Sousuke, me and Haru-chan are going to make cookies. Do you want to come?" Makoto bounced up and down tugging at Sousuke’s track pants, almost pulling them down at one point, as he tilts his head all the way back to look up at Sousuke with big eyes. Sousuke caught a glimpse of Haru sending a cold glare at Makoto, and was about to say something but Sousuke was faster smiling as he patted Makoto’s head to the small boys delight "Sure, I’ll be glad to" Sousuke said slowly almost mockingly as he smirks at Haru, who only glares through squinted eyes and a frown.

 ----

 "I want to do that Haru-chan” Makoto bounced up and down on his stool, griping the edge of the counter.

"Don’t you think you’re a bit young to be adding ‘chan’ to my name" Haru asked stoically but passer the egg he was holding into Makoto’s hands. Using clumsy hands to crack the egg into the bowl of flour.

Sousuke has never thought baking as fun but here he was lining a baking tray on a perfectly good Thursday morning with a small smile on his face.

Sousuke watched as Haru made quick work of the batter, mixing in the sugar milk and chocolate chips, occasionally letting Makoto take a few stirs with clumsy actions, spilling and making a mess more than anything.

After that all three of them helped to spoon the mixture onto the tray. The only slight problem was Haru. The tension between them had died down to a low simmer but once in a while Sousuke caught Haru throwing him glances. Not icy stares, this was different. But other than that Sousuke was having more fun than expected as he got his hands sticky with batter as he stood next to Makoto, who was making messy clumps of batter himself with a cute amount of concentration.

 "Look Sousuke" Makoto beamed up at Sousuke from his place, holding up his hands and wiggling his sticky fingers. Sousuke smiles before helping to wash his hands off with a towel.

"Yamazaki, help me grab me a bowl. Top shelf" Haru said gesturing to a tall wall cabinet as he scrapped up the last of the batter. But before he heard a small gasp, Makoto quickly turned to Haru.

"No Haru-chan. Sousuke can’t. His shoulder hurts" Sousuke’s breath hitched as he stares at Makoto, his expression worried. Sousuke’s wondered up to meet Haru’s eyes, he only scowled and quickly looked away. His expression was emotionless as usual but could see pity swimming somewhere in those blue eyes. Sousuke stared at the wall as he instinctively rubbed his shoulder.

"It’s alright, Makoto." Sousuke said once he recovered, ruffling his head as he turned to get what Haru needed. Feeling Haru’s eyes on him, Sousuke was careful in overestretching his shoulder as he reached for the bowl.

Adding the finishing touches, Sousuke helped Makoto to slide the tray full of cookies into the oven as Haru started to clear up.

Setting the timer, Sousuke wiped Makoto’s hands again and the bit of flour that had gotten on Makoto’s face “Can we have cookies now?" Makoto asked as Sousuke finished wiping up Makoto's cheeks.

"We have to wait for a bit, kid" Sousuke said as he could brushing his hands on the back of his jeans. To which the Makoto only responded by giving a small pout as he glanced to the side. With a clatter of dishes Haru dried his hands turning to Makoto and Sousuke.

"Makoto, go get the thing you said you wanted to show Sousuke" Makoto and Haru shared a look before Makoto’s entire being lit up and he quickly ran out of the room with an excited look, completely forgetting about the cookies. Sousuke smiles after Makoto. Without another word Haru brushes past him and went into the living room. Sousuke would have stayed in the kitchen alone, just to avoid the awkwardness that is Haru. However it would be even more awkward to stand alone in a pretty much a stranger’s kitchen. So Sousuke begrudgingly follows Haru into the living room, hesitating for a moment before taking a seat across from Haru, sitting as far as away as possible from Haru but still close enough to seem like he wasn't avoiding him. Which he wasn’t.

Both of the black haired teens turning away from each other to try and avoid each other. Sousuke laced his hands together tapping his fingers while Haru rested his chin on his hand as he picked at some lose thread on his pants. Sousuke wondered what was taking Makoto so long.

"What was that about the other day? That call"

"Makoto tells me you swim" Haru says a bit too quickly.

"Are you really trying to make small talk?" Sousuke said with a scoff, "and don’t you dare avoid the question" turning to face Haru who only glared back before resting his chin back on his hand as if he never said anything in the first place. Sousuke gave a huff, leaning back into the chair before his eyes rounded in realization. Wait, does that mean Makoto talks about him when he isn’t around. That fact makes him strangely happy.

“Butterfly and free" Sousuke mumbled

 "What?" Haru turned to Sousuke

 "I swim butterfly and free" Sousuke said a bit too fiercely.

 "I only swim free" Haru mumbled

 "You’re weird"

 Haru eyes narrowed before turning away again.

 "Normal people don’t go threatening other people and then suddenly you’re all friendly with me."

 A long pause dragged out and for a second Sousuke thinks Haru’s going to avoid the question again but then Haru spoke in his stoic voice still facing the wall "Makoto’s one of the only people I really care about and I don’t want him to ever get hurt."

"What makes you think I do?" Sousuke snapped his head to stare at the back of Haru’s head as he shoots back.

 Awarkward silence draped over them as Haru kept staring at the far wall avoid Sousuke his shoulders almost as tense a Sousuke’s. Sousuke went back to irritably fiddling with his hands.

“I just want to make sure this doesn’t become a competition for Makoto. Mako deserves more than that" Haru mumbled quietly, Haru turning slowly to look at Sousuke with serious eyes.

 Sousuke stared back dumbly for a second.

 Mako. that’s a cute nickname.

He was about to agree with Haru for the first time but was interrupted by the familiar pittar-patter of feet that Sousuke has grown to like so much.

"Haru! Sousuke!" Came running into the living room clutching something behind his back, stopping in the middle of both young men, Makoto giggled as he rocked back and forth of his heels

"What do you have there Makoto?" Sousuke said leaning forward to rest on his knees as Haru took his head of his hand.

Without any further prompting Makoto held out the thing he was hiding. Holding out a drawing and suddenly Sousuke feels like crying. In many different crayon colours and in a childish stick figure drawing, Makoto had drawn himself messy green scribbles for his hair and a giant smile, holding his hand was a larger stick figure with jet black hair and ocean blue eyes. Haru. But Sousuke landed on the figure holding Makoto’s other hand. This figure was much bigger and hand a small smile drawn on. Sousuke.

"Do you like it" Makoto asked peeping out from behind his drawing.

 "I like it a lot, Makoto. Thank you" Sousuke said before swooping forward and carrying Makoto into his lap in a bundle of giggles and Sousuke hugged him, his strong arms wrapping around Makoto burying him in his chest not even caring about his shoulder.

Finally breaking the embrace Sousuke glanced at Haru who had a small smile on his face as he watched Makoto sit on Sousuke's lap. Teal met blue eyes in a silent agreement and the two nodded slightly at each other as Haru scooted closer to the pair.

Cookies with warm milk were had and with tummies full and warm Makoto quickly fell into a food coma curling up in-between Sousuke and Haru, resting his head on Sousuke lap as he draped him legs over Haru’s as the shorter teen rubbed his back quietly in way he knew Makoto liked. Sousuke let out a relaxed sigh as he sunk deeper into the couch, not a worry in his mind. Whatever his future held dint matter right now.

 Because as long as Makoto needed both of them, they would continue to grin and bear it.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it~  
> As always Kudos/Comments etc. etc. always make my day :3


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